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This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Feria Internacional del Libro, Guadalajara, and to celebrate the occasion, groups of 25 professionals in several different fields were awarded honors. In the librarian category, our SALALM colleagues Adan Griego and Micaela Chávez Villa were among the 25 librarians from Mexico and the United States honored for their contributions to FIL over the past 25 years. The ceremony was held at the opening of the Coloquio Internacional de Bibliotecarios on November 28th (http://sdpnoticias.com/nota/243080/Reflexionan_sobre_el_papel_de_la_info…).

Last Wednesday, November 16, ALA’s International Relations Office and SALALM jointly hosted the first ever Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL) Orientation webinar for first-time attendees and FIL Free Pass Program recipients. The webinar was led by SALALM member and Stanford librarian Adan Griego. The ten-day book fair, which is held in Guadalajara, Mexico, will be celebrating its 25th birthday later this month.

The hour-long webinar was roughly comprised of 40 minutes of presentation and 20 minutes of Q&A. The session opened with a brief history of FIL and an orientation to the city of Guadalajara. Then, Griego quickly moved on to describe the kinds of questions book fair attendees need to address before embarking on a book buying trip: the characteristics of the users they serve, how their libraries handle international purchasing and shipping, which vendors – in the US or Latin America – they intend to use, if any. Griego explained how sorting out these details ahead of time will prevent headaches later on when attendees are surrounded by thousands of other FIL visitors. Next, Griego described the state of the publishing industry in Latin America, emphasizing the challenges presented by large media conglomerates and small print runs in order to help illustrate the advantages of physically attending and purchasing books at the book fair. Finally, the orientation finished with a virtual tour of the convention center and the resources available to librarians visiting from the United States. After this “tour,” the 44 attendees asked questions – by phone or through chat.

The session was informative but focused, neatly tailored to address the needs of attendees who may have never gone on a book-buying trip before or may not feel comfortable with their command of the Spanish language. This webinar assuaged these anxieties, and its online format lent the advantage of providing an orientation before attendees arrived to Guadalajara. Griego also offers an in-person orientation once librarians arrive to Guadalajara, but the online orientation allows librarians to plan and prepare for the conference ahead of time and maximize their trip to its fullest.

The webinar was hosted through iLinc, provided and supported by the ALA’s International Relations office.

October/November is a good time to visit Peru and Bolivia as both Lima and Cochabamba host book fairs. Neither should be compared with their better-known South American counterparts in Bogota, Santiago de Chile or Buenos Aires. But both give a good accounting of book production in their countries.

I counted 90 stands, between publishers and booksellers. Major academic publishers, some listed below, were in full force as were others, e.g. Casa de la Biblia, that produce material not usually of interest to research libraries.

The most interesting news I got at the fair is the names of several out of print sources: Casa del Libro Viejo (www.libroviejoymas.com); Libreria Aleph, Mario Morales owner (I have only the phone number 991964365); IDEAL Libros y Revistas Antiguos del Peru, Av. Nicolas de Pierola, librospalomino@terra.com; Libreria Inestable, Porta 185 “B”, Miraflores.

And although they were not at the fair, our old friends at Libreria El Virrey have relocated their store in San Isidro to Bolognesi 510 in Miraflores. They maintain their sucursal downtown, Pasaje Nicolas de Rivera near the old post office.

Smaller than the Lima fair, but not by much. Argentina, specifically Salta, was this year’s international invitee. Authorities from Cochabamba and Salta announced an agreement whereby collections of Argentine and Bolivian fiction would be exchanged between the two cities and housed in appropriate locations.

The Argentines stole the show with what Los Tiempos reported as forty stands. Of course, I was there for the Bolivians. Editorial Nuevo Milenario, a publisher new to me, was showing Edmundo Paz Soldan’s latest novel, Norte. Universidad Mayor de San Andres had several new titles, including Ciudades en transformacion, coordinated by Patricia Urquieta; and Fundacion Tierra had copies of Reconfigurando territorios.

CEDIB announced a compilation on compact disk of its long-running Bolivian news service, 30 dias.

Some may remember a Bolivian feminist organization, “Mujeres Creando,” from their appearance at a recent LASA meeting. They’re still at it, mas que jamas, and among the publications they showed in Cochabamba were: La pobreza, un gran negocio; Mujeres creando … mas and Ninguna mujer nace para puta.

Coda:

La Paz Bookstores

Current Imprints:

Libreria Yachaywasi. Avenida Villazon, Paisaje Trigo 447. Tel: 2442437. Near the Universidad Mayor de San Andres (UMSA) and because of its location, the best and largest academically-oriented bookstore in the city. Especially good for journals.

Libreria Gisbert y Cia. 1270 Comercio. Large stock but much of it is text books. Closed shelves limit browsing.

Los Amigos del Libro. Its traditional location on Calle Mercado now houses two fast food restaurants. Currently occupies a less inviting space with a less interesting stock. Calle Ballivian 1275, next to Libreria Juridica Temis.

Libreria Don Bosco. 1805 16 de Julio (El Prado). Once a very good book store and publisher of scholarly journals, increasingly devotional.

Associacion de Libreros Mariscal de Santa Cruz. Many small stalls now consolidated in the newly refurbished Centro Comercial Lanza. North of the San Francisco Church. Most active on weekends.

Paisaje Comercial Marina Nunez del Prado. A series of stalls situated along a walkway beside the Rio La Paz. You descend to river level at several points, e.g. one a half block east (upward) from the corner of 16 de Julio and Camacho.

We still have a few ALA librarian rooms available if you have not applied for the Free Pass and you still want to come to Guadalajara. You need to be an individual member of ALA and be involved in collection development. Airfares are still quite reasonable, but we need to hear from you immediately. The application is herewith attached; please fill out and email it back to me ASAP.

If you have already applied, your application is being processed. Please be patient with us.